BOXING: Golovkin hopes to move up the ranks

Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (26-0, 23 KOs) defends his WBA and IBO middleweight world titles against United Kingdom’s Matthew Macklin (29-4, 20 KOs) on Saturday. HBO will televise the event, which will be at MGM Grand Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut.

It’s a lonely existence for Kazakhstan’s Golovkin, who spends 10 months of the year in Big Bear Lake, while his wife and child stay in Kazakhstan. He has focused on cracking the upper stratosphere of prizefighting.

“I want to fight the best,” Golovkin said.

Some have accused Golovkin of not fighting high-caliber opponents. His team agrees that the quality of opponents could be improved, but not because they’re avoiding tougher foes.

“It’s all about the budget,” said Tom Loeffler, president of K-2 Promotions, which represents Golovkin.

A victory against Macklin would place Golovkin in a higher financial bracket and draw better challengers.

Macklin has danger written all over him. When he fought WBC middleweight titlist Martinez a year ago in Madison Square Garden he knocked down the champion in the seventh round. Few expected Macklin to be able to do that. “I gave Sergio a good fight. Sergio was a nightmare,” Macklin said about his last world title opportunity. “GGG as good as a fighter as he is, our paths have not crossed.”

Macklin and Golovkin had lengthy amateur careers and both participated in the Olympics. Golovkin had more than 300 amateur fights but moved up to middleweight to allow a countryman an opportunity to make Kazakhstan’s Olympic team. Both Golovkin and the teammate grabbed Olympic medals.

“He does everything I ask,” said Sanchez, who has trained numerous world champions, including Terry Norris and Lupe Aquino. “All he says is ‘OK, coach’ and goes about his business.”

Changing styles

As an amateur Golovkin was more of a boxer and mover. That style served him well but professional boxing tends to appreciate power and aggressiveness. After a few years of lukewarm success, he decided to move to California to learn a more aggressive style.

Sanchez has always taught his fighters to rely more on offense than defense. Defense is important, but when a fighter has real knockout power then it’s important to use that skill.

“His offense becomes his defense,” said Sanchez, who teaches Golovkin the seek-and-destroy method. “When he is moving forward, the other fighter has to worry about not getting hit.”

The technique has worked. Only three opponents managed to hear the final bell.

“Gennady has the best knockout percentage of all active boxers,” Loeffler said while in Los Angeles last week.

Macklin has the same approach, also looking to move forward and win by knockout. It almost worked against Martinez. Will it work against Golovkin?

“He hasn’t really beaten anybody of any note. I remember watching him myself and I know how good a fighter he is. Yes he is accurate and heavy-handed. So am I,” Macklin said.

Golovkin knows a win over Macklin means entrance into the elite ranks.